Conventionally, portable electronic devices, such as cellular phones, portable computers, portable digital assistants or portable media players, have displays that are controlled to display video or animated content at 60 frames per second. The processing performed by a portable electronic device to produce and display each frame consumes power. Since portable electronic devices are often battery powered, the display of video or animated content is very power intensive. As a result, the stored power of a battery used to power the portable electronic device can be consumed relatively quickly when used to display video or animated content. While the frame rate could be set to a predetermined lower frame rate to reduce power, lower frame rates can cause poor quality display of video or animated content. Thus, there is a need for improved techniques to reduce power consumption, and thus conserve battery power, of portable electronic devices, while avoiding poor quality display.